longer requires implementation of a ``find_module()`` method.
-.. class:: MetaPathFinder(Finder)
+.. class:: MetaPathFinder
- An abstract base class representing a :term:`meta path finder`.
+ An abstract base class representing a :term:`meta path finder` and
+ inheriting from :class:`Finder`.
.. versionadded:: 3.3
package. If a loader cannot be found, ``None`` is returned.
-.. class:: PathEntryFinder(Finder)
+.. class:: PathEntryFinder
- An abstract base class representing a :term:`path entry finder`.
+ An abstract base class representing a :term:`path entry finder` and
+ inheriting from :class:`Finder`.
.. versionadded:: 3.3
making the import statement work. That means the various importers that were
once implicit are now fully exposed as part of the :mod:`importlib` package.
-In terms of finders, * :class:`importlib.machinery.FileFinder` exposes the
+The abstract base classes defined in :mod:`importlib.abc` have been expanded
+to properly delineate between :term:`meta path finders <meta path finder>`
+and :term:`path entry finders <path entry finder>` by introducing
+:class:`importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder` and
+:class:`importlib.abc.PathEntryFinder`, respectively. The old ABC of
+:class:`importlib.abc.Finder` is now only provided for backwards-compatibility
+and does not enforce any method requirements.
+
+In terms of finders, :class:`importlib.machinery.FileFinder` exposes the
mechanism used to search for source and bytecode files of a module. Previously
this class was an implicit member of :attr:`sys.path_hooks`.
Beyond the expanse of what :mod:`importlib` now exposes, there are other
visible changes to import. The biggest is that :attr:`sys.meta_path` and
-:attr:`sys.path_hooks` now store all of the finders used by import explicitly.
-Previously the finders were implicit and hidden within the C code of import
-instead of being directly exposed. This means that one can now easily remove or
-change the order of the various finders to fit one's needs.
+:attr:`sys.path_hooks` now store all of the meta path finders and path entry
+hooks used by import. Previously the finders were implicit and hidden within
+the C code of import instead of being directly exposed. This means that one can
+now easily remove or change the order of the various finders to fit one's needs.
Another change is that all modules have a ``__loader__`` attribute, storing the
loader used to create the module. :pep:`302` has been updated to make this
both the modification time and size of the source file the bytecode file was
compiled from.
+* :class:`importlib.abc.Finder` no longer specifies a `find_module()` abstract
+ method that must be implemented. If you were relying on subclasses to
+ implement that method, make sure to check for the method's existence first.
+ You will probably want to check for `find_loader()` first, though, in the
+ case of working with :term:`path entry finders <path entry finder>`.
+
* :mod:`pkgutil` has been converted to use :mod:`importlib` internally. This
eliminates many edge cases where the old behaviour of the PEP 302 import
emulation failed to match the behaviour of the real import system. The